My name is Jessica, but only my mother
calls me that, everyone else just calls me Jessie.My birthday is in a few days, the big
three-o.Yeah, I’m not looking forward
to that.Thankfully, most people guess
that I’m about twenty-five.On a good
day, I still get carded.On a bad day, I
get a muffin top, probably the result of too many muffins.I have green eyes (which I love), freckles on
my nose, cheeks, shoulders, and everywhere else (which I hate), and dark auburn
hair that causes me more pain than it’s worth most days.Some days it’s wavy, and some days it’s
straight.Today, it’s in a ponytail.

I was sitting in a red Adirondack
chair in the backyard, enjoying the pleasantly warm summer day, while painting
my nails with the new polish I had bought yesterday.It was a bubblegum pink that matched my mood
perfectly.My hands and feet were
splayed in front of my face, allowing me to admire the fact that I hadn’t
smudged a finger or painted a whole toe.Some days, life is just good to me. Today was looking like one of those days.

My thoughts were interrupted by the
ringing of my cell phone.There was no
need for me to look at the screen to see who was calling.The ringtone told me that it was Jim, my fiancé,
and the reason that I’d moved to Washington state and this picturesque hamlet
on the South Sound.

After a quick look at my still wet
nails, I carefully touched the answer button on the phone beside me.“Hey, stranger!”

“Hello, beautiful.”His voice held a smile.“My plans have changed.I’ll be home tonight.”He paused, for effect, adding, “I was hoping
you’d be willing to pick me up at the airport, say five o’clock, and let me
take you out to dinner at the space needle.If not, I don’t know what I’ll do.I already made reservations.”

A huge smile spread over my face.“Of course!”I paused.“Is everything
okay?You weren’t scheduled to come home
for another day.”

He hesitated, just long enough for me
to notice, before answering.“Everything
is fine.I just finished my business
early.Now, I’m ready to come home to my
girl.”

Our conversation was interrupted by
someone in the background.Was that a
woman’s voice?I heard him say something
back.The sound was muffled, as if he’d
put a hand over the phone.I heard it
again, more distinctly. What was going
on?Horror caused my heart to slow, and
my words to catch.Did she just call him
‘baby’?

“Who’s there with you?” I asked
suspiciously.

“Just someone asking directions,” he
said distractedly.“I’m in the airport
on a layover.We’re getting ready to
board, so I have to go.Later.”The call abruptly ended.

In anguish, I stared at the silent
phone.Of course, it was just a
bystander.Jim loves me.He wouldn’t, couldn’t cheat.No.It
was probably just like he said, someone asking directions, someone like that
waitress back home who calls everyone baby.Frowning, I wondered if he was telling me everything.It was a question I’d asked myself many times
before.Looking down, I absently noticed
the polish on two fingers was now smudged.While my attention was diverted, a cloud drifted in front of the sun,
causing the temperature to feel as if it had dropped.

“Just great, I’ll have to redo these
two fingers.”I frowned down at the
polish.“I don’t have much time if I’m
going to clean up and get to the airport, before Jim’s flight lands.”I shook my head, realizing that not only was
I talking to nobody, but I now had bubblegum pink nail polish stuck to the
strands of my auburn hair.

An hour and a half later, I had
showered, shaved, and slid into a new pair of low rider, dark washed, blue
jeans that hugged my butt, and made my legs look super long.Grabbing a dark brown leather belt off the
floor, I tugged it through the belt loops of my jeans while frantically
searching through my closet for the forest green top that I had bought last
week.I really wanted to WOW Jim, and
that color makes my eyes pop.Once I was
dressed, I stood in front of the full length mirror, assessing the damage. The
shirt looked great with the jeans, hugged my curves in all the right places,
and made my ‘C’ cups look more like ‘D’ cups.

“Thank you
Victoria Secret!”

After blasting my hair dry, I stared
sullenly into the mirror at my hair.

“Please, please cooperate, just this
once.I need this!”I begged my hair, as I gingerly applied heat
with the curling wand.

Twenty minutes and two wrist burns
later, I stared at the beautiful girl in the mirror.

-

“That’s more like it.Why can’t you look like this more often?” I
asked, but she just smiled.

With my hair falling seductively to
the middle of my back, the effect was completed with the perfume that Jim
didn’t know he had bought me last week.Now, it was time to slide into my favorite red cowboy boots, and check
myself out in the mirror, one last time.

“Perfect!”

TWO

“Four-forty-five, aaarg!” I was stuck
in traffic.“Don’t ya’ll have someplace
else to be?”I yelled at the other cars,
while simultaneously hitting my steering wheel, and blaring the horn.

So much for my peaceful day, I hate
driving on I-5.North or South, coming
or going, the traffic is always a mess.It’s times like this that I really miss the small town I grew up in, a
town where heavy traffic means there are five cars in front of you at the
light.I shut off the radio so that I
could focus on breathing slowly, in and out.

A siren wailed as it inched through
the stalled traffic.“My happy place…dammit!I lost my happy place.”Pressing my lips together, I frowned at the
realization that I was talking to myself, again.I really am trying to quit.The problem is, since I moved here, I don’t
have anyone else to converse with.“Oh,
well…There’s my exit.”

Pulling up to the airport pickup lane,
I noticed a man leaning against the wall.He was inconspicuously out of place, and I couldn’t help but stare.

“What is it about that guy?” I asked
the empty car.

Despite the expensive suit he was
wearing, he had a disreputable look.Maybe it was the nose that looked as if it had been broken too many
times to count, or the way he scowled at the world around him, or the way he
held himself all scrunched up next to the wall.I felt a strong urge to investigate the stranger, at least flag down a
security guard to go check him out.

“Jessie, quit it!He’s just waiting for someone.He’s not causing problems.He’s probably a really nice guy.I’m sure he’s just a retired boxer.Yeah, that’s it.He’s a retired boxer waiting on his
wife.She stopped to use the little
wife’s room.He’s just waiting outside
for her.He’s frowning because they’re
late for dinner. He hates to be late,
but she’s always late.In the twenty
years they’ve been married, they’ve never been on time for dinner.He’s frowning because it bothers him.That’s all, not because he has an AR-15
assault rifle tucked under his jacket, and he’s about to kill everyone.It’s because his wife is making them late for
dinner.Remember, you’re not back home
anymore.People are different here.Anyway, you know you shouldn’t judge people
by the way they look,” I chastised myself.

“How else am I supposed to judge him,
without getting to know him?” I cheekily asked no one.

With one last glance at the stranger,
I forced myself to park and focus on scanning the crowd for Jim.

“Not here
yet, figures.”

While unsuccessfully attempting to
ignore the foreboding chill running down my spine, I waited for Jim.It wasn’t long before I was bored.Naturally, my thoughts turned back to the
creepy stranger.I couldn’t put my
finger on why, but he was scary.If I
turned far enough in my seat, I could still see him, slouched up against the
wall like a street thug, just to the side of the pedestrian traffic coming out
of the terminal doors.I watched as
passing travelers give him a wide berth, while hurrying past with their piles
of luggage.It felt good to know that I
wasn’t the only one who realized the stranger was menacingly out of place.

.

I was deep in dark thoughts when a
traffic cop tapped on my window, signaling me to move on.Grudgingly, I pulled out of my parking spot
to take a loop.The next time I passed
the stranger, his unblinking eyes met mine, causing a cold chill to race down
my spine.I couldn’t help but stare back,
as I drove slowly past.

“That was creepy weird,” I commented
into the empty vehicle.

As I attempted to shake off the
foreboding feeling, I watched Jim move through the terminal doors.On cue, a dark grey minivan pulled away from
the curb, directly in front of Jim.I
quickly slid my cherry red Jeep Wrangler into the recently vacated spot, and
waved.He didn’t see me.

I called out, “Jim!” waving
again.

He was deep in conversation with
someone behind him and still didn’t notice me.When the crowd thinned, a wave of jealousy washed over me.Jim’s companion was shorter, younger, and
curvier than me.She wore a
well-tailored, grey business suit that showed off a perfect hourglass figure;
the silk blouse beneath it barely covering her unbelievably large breasts.Her perfect chin length hair was bottled
blonde, and cut into a stylish bob that complimented her expertly made-up
face.Her tattoo, just visible beneath
her buoyant breasts, even complimented the obviously valuable sparklers
distributed expertly about her hands, wrists, neck, and ears.She stood out in the crowd, looking more
Jersey Shore than Seattle Sound.

“He goes to Boston and comes back with
a blonde Kardashian?” I asked the empty car.Looking down at myself, I suddenly felt like a pre-pubescent teenager at
the Miss America pageant.“How am I supposed
to compete with that?”I imagined myself
as a redheaded Kardashian.It wasn’t
nearly as sexy on my taller, smaller boned frame.“Do I want to compete with that?”

A passing traveler gave me an odd look,
as he hurried past my open window, reminding me that I was supposed to be
cutting back on talking to myself.Jim,
and his blonde friend, stopped two cars behind me.With a sexy smile, she moved towards a
waiting cab, turned on the toes of her shiny spiked heels, and gave Jim a
flirtatious finger wave goodbye.

My eyes narrowed at the sight.Jim had mentioned that he was traveling with
a co-worker this time, Chris.I had
assumed his companion was a Christopher. She looked more like a Christine.My jealousy sizzled while I watched Jim, and
every other man in the area, ogle the blonde bombshell.They were practically drooling as they
watched her seductively slide into the backseat of a waiting cab, with a
triumphant smile on her face.

Desperate to break the spell, I laid
on the horn.The strident noise caught
his attention, causing him to turn his gaze my direction.I could see him shaking his head as he slowly
hauled his suitcase towards me.

It’s
times like this that I question if Jim’s the right guy for me.I hope he is, because we’re supposed to get
married in a few months.Watching him
haul his suitcase to my waiting Jeep, I studied his comfortably attractive
features.He was freshly shaved,
confident, and well dressed.He should
be.He spends more on clothes than I do,
a lot more.Could I see myself as his
wife?That’s the question I’ve been
asking myself since I stepped off the plane and into his arms, six long weeks
ago.

As the passenger door opened, he slid
his laptop case onto the backseat.Flashing his million dollar smile, the one that takes my breath away, he
greeted me, “Hello, beautiful!Can you
give a handsome stranger a lift?”

Narrowing my eyes, I gave him a cross
look.“Who was that?”

He grinned.“Don’t tell me you’re jealous of Chris.I told you all about her.”

I raised an eyebrow in response.“You forgot to mention that she’s a she,
beautiful, and has huge boobs.”

His laughter scattered my doubts.“That would have just made you jealous.”Before I could respond, the creepy stranger
from the sidewalk approached Jim.

“Excuse me, Mr. Carozza.”The stranger’s voice was rough and gravelly,
like an old smoker.

Jim turned, asking, “Can I help
you?”

He coldly looked at Jim before
nodding.“I am from the office.We have a car for you.”He motioned to a waiting black Lexus, parked
three cars behind me.

Jim’s gaze followed the stranger’s
gesture.After an uncomfortable moment,
he glanced at me with a frown.I could
see him thinking as he returned his gaze to the stranger.

I bristled at the way he said ‘wife’.It did not sound complimentary.As the men stood quietly regarding each other, over the open car door, I
noticed Jim’s eyelid twitch.It’s a
nervous habit, and one of his few physical faults.Jim seemed to be considering his options
while the stranger stoically waited for his response.He didn’t appear to have any intention of
leaving the airport without Jim.

After a long moment of silence, Jim
took a deep breath, replying, “Of course.”

“Jim, I can drive you to the
office.It’ll give us a minute
together.I don’t mind waiting for you,
either.”I offered quickly.I’m sure the alarm I was feeling showed on
my face, as I slightly shook my head no.The stranger gave me a bad feeling, deep in my gut.

Jim looked at me a moment, then said,
“Jessie, why don’t you go home to wait for me?This could take a while. ”

I shook my head, whispering, “No, this
is not a good idea.Look at him!”

Despite my protest, Jim closed the
passenger door.“It’ll be alright.Don’t worry, I’ll be home for dinner,” he
said, before turning and walking away with the stranger.

I watched in disbelief as the two men
wordlessly approached the black Lexus.What had just happened?Something
about this whole thing didn’t feel right.Not only had we planned to go out to dinner, but Jim insisted that
dinner should be at five-thirty, every night.His mother had always had dinner on the table at five-thirty.It was a tradition he had grown up with, one
that he insisted that we continue.

I glanced at the clock on the dash
again.According to the clock it was
five-fifteen.Frowning, I checked the
clock on my phone, five-fifteen.‘I’ll be home for dinner,’ he had
said.

Staring at the dashboard clock, I
said, “I won’t even be home for dinner.”

The Lexus had pulled out of the lane,
and was now driving past me.I could see
Jim, staring fearfully out of the rear passenger side window.I blinked in surprise.I had never seen him scared of anything.Jim killed spiders, chased off rabid raccoons,
and skied down intimidating blacks without hesitation.Jim was pretty tough.

Without realizing it, I had turned the
key in the ignition.Before I knew it, I
was easing the Jeep into traffic, behind the black Lexus.I realized that I was following Jim, and the creepy
stranger, but I didn’t really know what I hoped to accomplish.Nervously, I glanced around at the other
drivers, heedlessly going about their business while I acted out a scene in a
movie.

“What are you doing?” I asked myself.

“I just want to see what happens.I’ll just follow them to the office.If everything checks out, I’ll go home,” I
answered back.“Besides, I haven’t got
anything else to do.It looks like my
dinner date has been cancelled.”

A tingle, coursing down the back of my
spine, told me that this was not the smartest idea that I had ever come up with.I decided to ignore that thought, for
now.Drumming my fingers on the steering
wheel, I realized I was nervous.Experience has taught me that nervousness is never a good sign.

“What if they notice I’m following
them?” I asked the empty car.“What if
they get mad, and start shooting at me?I’ll be on the evening news.My
parents will see it.Oooh that would be
bad!”

I could feel the panic welling inside
of me.Taking a deep breath, I slid both
hands on the wheel, then slowly let a few cars in between myself and the Lexus,
making sure that I could still see the black sedan up ahead.

“It’s okay, Jessie.You’ve seen a lot of movies where they do
this kind of thing.Following someone is
no big deal,” I told myself.

Oh no!The cars that I had strategically placed between us were all
turning.This was not working out
well.What was I thinking?I’m just some girl, with an overactive
imagination, in way over her head.I was
white knuckling the steering wheel, as visions of Jim’s new friend doing
horrible things to me danced in my head.In a feeble attempt to ease my stress, I bit my lip.

Taking a deep breath, I attempted to
talk some sense into myself.“Jessie,
you’re a nut.Save yourself some embarrassment,
turn around and go home, like Jim said.”

I shook my head, continuing to tail
the Lexus.Was I really following Jim
and his business partners, over a gut feeling?I was going to feel incredibly stupid when we pulled up to Jim’s
office.I took a deep breath.I should take that exit ahead, turn around,
and head home.The exit hurried
past.I bit harder on my lower lip,
drawing blood.I just couldn’t convince
myself to turn around.Something about
this whole thing just didn’t feel right.I couldn’t ignore it.What if Jim
ended up dead?I would have to live with
the guilt, knowing that I could have at least tried to help, but didn’t.

“Jessie, you really need to lay off
the late night crime TV.”

The sudden sound startled me, making
me jump on the brake.The car behind me
hit his horn, followed by the earsplitting sound of squealing tires.Instinctively, I pushed on the gas pedal, narrowly
avoiding a rear-end collision.Guilt
seized my thoughts, as I watched cars pile up behind me.

“That was not your fault.That was the result of someone following to
close,” I reasoned to the empty seat next to me.The empty seat just sat there, allowing my
guilt to fill the quiet.

With a sigh, I shook my head.“I have got to stop talking to myself.I’m starting to answer back.”

I was so focused on not being seen, I
lost track of how long I followed the Lexus.Once we got off of the highway, there weren’t as many cars on the
road.I had to put a little more
distance between me and the Lexus.There
was no backing out now, I mentally reasoned.We were almost down to the Port of Seattle before they turned into a
maze of smaller side streets.We were so
close to the Port, I could see the huge ships and train tracks in the near
distance.I had never been to this area
before. I was effectively lost.

We drove down a few more side
streets.I had fallen so far back that I
almost missed the Lexus pulling into a private parking garage, under an old
red-brick office building, four streets up.There was no sign indicating what type of business it housed.All I knew was that it wasn’t Jim’s office
building.In fact, it wasn’t anywhere
near Jim’s office building.Pulling into
a street-side parking space, I quickly killed the engine.

I had to wonder, “What now?”

My phone beeped, causing me to jump
up, bumping my head on the window.Ignoring the pain in my head, I hurriedly pulled the phone out of my
purse.It was a text from Jim!Frowning, I stared at the one word on the
screen, ‘Greg.’

“What?” I asked the empty street.

SynopsisJessica Hart is new to Seattle, days away from the big three-o, and just months away from marrying the perfect man when her fiancé, Jim Carozza, gets into a car with a creepy stranger who looks like a Vegas pit boss. Suddenly, her seemingly perfect life takes a bizarre turn. Her big brother, Greg, tells her to go home. The police tell her to go home. Her inner voice even tells her to go home. Unfortunately, Jessica has never been the kind of girl to do as she’s told. Instead, she dives head first into trouble looking for answers but soon finds out that every answer leads to more trouble. Before she knows it, her world has turned upside down. Jim is missing and he’s got secrets. Greg has moved in and he’s got secrets. Her new friend, smoking hot and mysteriously irresistible Eric Wolf, even has secrets. Now, a crazed killer stalking Jessica wants something she doesn’t have. Wolf wants something she knows she shouldn’t give. And, the police, the FBI, the mob, and a bunch of intimidating mercenaries are watching her every move. Greg thinks she needs to let the police handle things. Wolf thinks she needs to lay low. Her best friend thinks she needs to let Wolf seduce her. Jessica thinks she needs some retail therapy, a manicure, and a margarita.

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